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Gifts Endow Carl Fehlandt Scholarship for Translation and Interpretation Students

The Middlebury Institute is pleased to announce that the Carl Fehlandt Scholarship recently met its initial goal of $100,000 in gifts and pledges, which will endow in perpetuity the first scholarship specifically for translation and interpretation students in the Institute’s 62-year history.

Named for a much-beloved former professor of translation, the Carl Fehlandt Scholarship will distribute a percentage of its earnings each year as scholarships for students in the Institute’s Translation and Interpretation program, beginning in 2018.

Professor Fehlandt graduated from the Institute (then known as the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies) in 1974 with an MA in Spanish and International Studies and a Certificate in Spanish Translation, and went on to teach Spanish translation and interpretation at the Institute for nearly 40 years. After he died of cancer in November 2012, a group of classmates, colleagues and friends set a goal to endow the first translation and interpretation scholarship at the Institute in memory of Fehlandt.

The response was tremendous, with an outpouring of support from former students, classmates, friends, and colleagues, many of whom were making their first gift ever to the Institute. Notes Director of Development Shirley Coly, “The campaign also attracted leadership gifts from several companies working in the translation and interpretation industry who value the skills of the Institute’s graduates and wanted to invest in our students in this way.”

“Carl was a pillar of the translation program,” said his colleague and former student Barry Slaughter Olsen MACI ’99. “He was more passionate about translation and language than any person I’ve ever met. He shared that passion for decades with his students and colleagues and has shaped the professional practice of translators and interpreters. I can’t think of a better way to honor Carl and memorialize his life-long passion than by supporting students.”

“This was a wonderful example of the power of many coming together to make a difference,” added Coly. “The response to this effort from our community was heartening. His family was particularly touched by the outpouring of support.”

The total number of gifts to the Carl Fehlandt Scholarship Fund to date is 114, with 81 of those from alumni. Anyone interested in supporting this effort can make a gift here.